In order to fight, you must keep your eyes open and have faithful companions by your side.
It can happen that someone who was fighting alongside the warrior of light suddenly becomes his opponent instead.
The warrior’s first reaction is hatred, but he knows that a blind combatant is lost in the midst of battle.
And so he tries to see the good things that his former ally did during the time in which they lived side by side; he tries to understand what led to that sudden change of attitude, what wounds he had accumulated in his soul. He tries to discover what made one of them abandon their dialogue.
No one is entirely good or evil; that is what the warrior thinks when he sees that he has a new opponent.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
129. Warrior of Light
‘You can give a fool a thousand intellects, but the only one he will want is yours,’ says an Arabic proverb. When the warrior of light starts planting his garden, he notices that his neighbour is there, spying. He likes to give advice on when to sow actions, when to fertilise thoughts and water conquests.
If he listens to what his neighbour is saying, he will end up creating something that is not his; the garden he is tending will be his neighbour’s idea.
But a true warrior of light knows that every garden has its own mysteries, which only the patient hand of the gardener can unravel. That is why he prefers to concentrate on the sun, the rain and the seasons.
He knows that the fool who gives advice about someone else’s garden is not tending his own plants.
If he listens to what his neighbour is saying, he will end up creating something that is not his; the garden he is tending will be his neighbour’s idea.
But a true warrior of light knows that every garden has its own mysteries, which only the patient hand of the gardener can unravel. That is why he prefers to concentrate on the sun, the rain and the seasons.
He knows that the fool who gives advice about someone else’s garden is not tending his own plants.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
128. Warrior of Light
The opponent is wise.
Whenever he can, he makes use of the easiest and most effective of his weapons: gossip. It doesn’t take much effort to use it because others do the work for him. A few misdirected words can destroy months of dedication, years spent in search of harmony.
The warrior of light is often the victim of this trick. He does not know where the blow came from and cannot prove that the gossip is false. Gossip does not allow him the right to defend himself: it condemns without a trial.
When this happens, he puts up with the consequences and the undeserved punishment, for, as he well knows, words are powerful. But he suffers in silence and never uses the same weapons to hit back at his opponent.
The warrior of light is not a coward.
Whenever he can, he makes use of the easiest and most effective of his weapons: gossip. It doesn’t take much effort to use it because others do the work for him. A few misdirected words can destroy months of dedication, years spent in search of harmony.
The warrior of light is often the victim of this trick. He does not know where the blow came from and cannot prove that the gossip is false. Gossip does not allow him the right to defend himself: it condemns without a trial.
When this happens, he puts up with the consequences and the undeserved punishment, for, as he well knows, words are powerful. But he suffers in silence and never uses the same weapons to hit back at his opponent.
The warrior of light is not a coward.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
127. Warrior of Light
A very large group of people is standing in the middle of the road, barring the way into Paradise.
The puritan asks: ‘What are these sinners doing here?’
And the moralist bawls: ‘the prostitute wants to join the feast’
The guardian of social values yells: ‘How can the adulteress be forgiven when she has sinned?’
The penitent rends his clothes: ‘Why cure a blind man if all he cares about his illness and when he doesn’t even say thank you?’
The ascetic protests: ‘You let that woman pour expensive oil on your hair! Why didn’t she sell it instead to buy food?’
Smiling, Jesus holds the door open. And the warriors of light go in, despite the hysterical shouting.
The puritan asks: ‘What are these sinners doing here?’
And the moralist bawls: ‘the prostitute wants to join the feast’
The guardian of social values yells: ‘How can the adulteress be forgiven when she has sinned?’
The penitent rends his clothes: ‘Why cure a blind man if all he cares about his illness and when he doesn’t even say thank you?’
The ascetic protests: ‘You let that woman pour expensive oil on your hair! Why didn’t she sell it instead to buy food?’
Smiling, Jesus holds the door open. And the warriors of light go in, despite the hysterical shouting.
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